


Mutual Understanding

by RurinnFane



Category: Subnautica (Video Game)
Genre: Fear, Gen, Mild Blood, Ocean exploration, Survival Horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 00:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10149356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RurinnFane/pseuds/RurinnFane
Summary: Having spent enough time stranded on this ocean planet, Arlen has grown pessimistic and tired; tired of digging around the ocean floor for supplies and tired of being at the lower end of this new ecosystem's food chain, all while being the sole survivor of the crash. He's recovered enough technology from his ship to live comfortably, but unfortunately that's only made life in this terrifying oceanic hellscape a little MORE tiring. At least the fish in the alien containment chamber are his captive audience. The jellyrays understand him.That is, until everything changes one day. He knew the possibility for other ship crashes was very real, but began to doubt the odds...





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first published fic so I'd love, love, loooove feedback and critique. There's more to come as I write it, but I can't guarantee any regular updates. Chapter 1 is a tad short, sorry for that -- I'm working on the following chapters. This will eventually be updated and expanded.  
> I'll add my continuing additional illustrations here:  
> http://fav.me/db2qwba
> 
> Update February 3 2018: I can't believe the amount of kudos this has received -- it really means a lot to me! Thank you for taking time out of your day to read and leave a bit of encouragement. I feel terrible that I've become yet another fic author who's seemed to have abandoned their work. I do hope to someday continue working on this, but I'm **extremely** busy right now and unable to make any headway. The recent (terrible) behavior of the game devs on twitter has also lowered my motivation to work on this. After investing a lot of time and energy into the game (as well as literally paying for it), and especially after waiting so patiently for the full release, it hurts to see them acting so carelessly and inappropriately in public. I hope that Unknown Worlds will speak up and denounce that kind of behavior but I'm not holding my breath; if their own sound designer can get away with being so acerbic on their twitter, I worry about what the company's behavior is like as a whole. I don't know if it's worth my time anymore.  
>  Thanks for being patient and understanding, everyone.

"Captain, a new message has arrived."

Arlen slowly rose from his bed, staring emptily at his communications terminal. Its notification light was glaring in the dim habitat. He sighed; he had learned that getting his hopes up was simply a waste of his energy. But listening the message was the only way to get that damned light to turn off. 

He dragged himself off the bed and across the small room. The creepvine outside was glowing subtly in the dark, leaving a faint orange glow from outside the viewing port between his bed and equipment. Flopping down into the desk chair, he activated the terminal with his eyes still wanting to close shut. He'd probably fall back to sleep in the chair.

"Does anyone read? My ship has crashed, repeat, my ship has crashed!" A panicked voice played, echoing through the room. Arlen remained unfazed. "Communications won't last much longer, my escape pod has been heavily damaged! My coordinates are attached, request assistance!"

His eyes opened wide upon receiving the coordinates, the terminal ejecting a chip which he inserted into the chip reader on his suit. He'd been to the area before, and from what he was able to tell there were no Aurora lifepods there. Besides, who calls a lifepod an escape pod? Certainly no one from Alterra Corps. At the same time, however, he was too late for all the previous distress signals he responded to, no matter how prompt he was in getting there. 

"I 'spose I'm here to assist," he mumbled, stretching as he walked down the corridor into the main room. He slipped on his flippers and his oxygen tanks before pausing. "They're probably going to wanna stick with the only other person on this godforsaken planet... the Seamoth is a no-go."  
Provided there is actually someone out there, he thought. If he was too late once again this entire trip would all be for naught. There was nothing else there that he knew of that could make up for the trip. Then again, the Cyclops was probably starting to grow algae on it or something. 

He slipped out of his habitat, floating off a few meters towards his Cyclops. It was massive -- too massive to park too close to his habitat. Moving at a top speed of 5 meters per second, he could swim faster than it could. But his potential rescue was in what he called the dunes, an area not remembered best for its accommodations. They could easily have been ripped to pieces by a sand shark or even a reaper by now. That's probably what happened to all the other Aurora escapees, right? Either way, he could make off with the salvage and store it in one of the Cyclop’s many storage lockers.  
Upon boarding, he tossed his flippers and oxygen tanks carelessly into a locker and climbed up to the bridge. The lights slowly brightened as he took to the helm and steered the submarine in the direction of the distress signal's origin, displayed conveniently on the viewing interface. It chugged along slowly, humming loudly as its engine spun in the chamber behind the bridge. 

"Alterra can make fabricators that can make things out of simple materials and thin air, yet they never considered an autopilot for the Cyclops," he hunched over, already tired from standing. He watched the scenery slowly pass by around him. The stalkers were smart enough to at least avoid the Cyclops, but the small fish in its way were no match. At least blood washed off the viewing ports while underwater, he thought. 

Finally, rubble began to become visible as he approached the coordinates he was given. The Cyclop’s flood lights glared against the metal, and sand from the sea floor was still slowly settling back down after the impact. He couldn't see any sand sharks from where he was at the helm, so he slowed the submarine to a stop and prepared to exit into the water. At this depth not much light made it to the sea floor when the sun was up; at night, it was pitch black.  
"I really, really hope the sun comes back up soon," he grumbled, opening the dive hatch and descending into to the cold, dark water. 

He couldn't find a hatch to the small "escape pod." The technology seemed so foreign to him that any of the panels he was looking at could've been a hatch. Figuring he only had limited air, he swam around it, knocking on the burned panels.  
"Hello??" He screamed as loud as he could from his helmet. Between it and solid titanium, sounds may or may not be heard. He continued to circle around, tapping the hull and jiggling around a few loose panels. They were still hot to touch.  
Distant roars sounded. His PDA had warned him that several leviathan class lifeforms had been detected in this area the last time he had been there, along with a question, “are you certain whatever you're doing is worth it?” His doubt about that only seemed to increase.  
Suddenly a small panel slid down, revealing a tiny window -- he swam to it and waved to it. A woman's face appeared on the other side. She looked like she had seen death, looking in his general direction with a thousand-yard stare. Her hair was matted in blood and her lips were bleeding. "Hey, hey!!" He yelled and waved at her more. He finally got to a rescue in time! Unless, you know, that reaper decided to pay a visit.  
"I don't have air, I'm stuck," she cried. Good, he thought, at least she can hear.  
"I'll give you my air tank and take you to my submarine, you just have to exit your lifepod!"  
"It'll fill with water!"  
He rolled his eyes. "It's a lifepod, for god's sake! Get out!"  
She slowly moved away from the window, the fog on the inside obscuring her. Mechanical sounds could be heard on the roof of the pod. He removed one of his air tanks, holding the mouthpiece out for her as she climbed out. Water rushed into the pod as he took her hand and guided her to the hatch on the Cyclops. It was several meters above them, but close enough that the hum of its engine could still be heard. He pulled her along to the dive hatch. Her eyes were squeezed shut while her charred clothes and long hair resisted in the water.  
As soon as it had detected them, the Cyclops opened up a panel at the bottom to reveal the dive hatch. He fumbled around, desperately grasping for the handle in the dark; he spent enough time swimming around that there wasn't very much oxygen left for the two of them. The display on the inside of his helmet approximated 60 seconds remaining, but that didn't account for the second tank being shared with his panicked and hyperventilating rescue. Her grip on his arm tightened as her legs squirmed around -- the roars were getting louder. Finally, he grasped the handle and twisted it open.  
He pulled her up, allowing her to enter first, following quickly to close it behind him. As she threw off the air tank she threw herself to the floor and screamed.  
"I can't believe this," she sputtered. "An ocean?? A-and the roaring?? What was that??”"  
"Yeah, this place sucks. It's scary." Arlen didn't know what to say. As for the roaring? She was probably better off not knowing right now. He removed his flippers, gently placing them and both air tanks back into a locker before heading for the ladder. "Um, the bridge is up here. You can... cry wherever, I just wanna get my sub out of here."  
She gave a faint nod in acknowledgment as she sobbed on the cold metal floor. 

 

As he took to the helm once more, he saw a long, white tail snaking around at the furthest reach of the flood lights. He broke into a sweat. Reapers had excellent hearing -- or maybe it was a keen sense of smell, it's not like he could get out and scan the things without becoming a snack -- and seemed happy to greet visitors. If they weren't roaring, they could go completely unnoticed. He and his seamoth learned this the hard way.  
He banked a hard turn, trying to put distance between them and the giant alien shark thing. Maybe it would just tear the “escape pod” to shreds instead. The submarine began to list to the side he turned to -- he slid to the side as he kept a firm grip on the helm. His new passenger was probably rolled onto the locker wall, too. A echoey thud could be heard on the lower deck, followed by groans and more sobbing.  
As soon as it stabilized he accelerated away from the scene as fast as the engine would allow. He took a deep breath. We’re finally safe!  
And then there was another roar, and his view pitched upwards upon a large rear impact. It was like the submarine was preparing to launch itself out of the water and off the planet. It knows what I want, he thought briefly. But that impact was definitely not a good thing. They were still moving, and the way ahead was clear; he checked the camera situated on the sub’s keel and sure enough, there was a very angry reaper face staring at the back of the submarine. The woman was screaming. She was clearly sliding down to the lower end of the cabin this time: her screams seemed to become a little more distant.  
“It's okay! We just… we just got a friendly farewell headbutt, is all!” He yelled in her direction. The panic in his voice likely didn't ease any tension, however.  
He kept accelerating away, refusing to look again at the keel camera. That was the second time he’d looked a reaper straight in the face. Hello, more nightmares. 

The pitch had finally stabilized after a few long minutes. They were sailing smoothly, and the roaring seemed to have abruptly stopped. Arlen’s shaking hands continued to guide the Cyclops along, correcting course as necessary. His rescue’s sobs grew quieter as familiar territory came into his view, sunlight slowly beginning to light the more shallow ocean floor.


End file.
